The Power of True Love Part One
by wildcat4life
Summary: <html><head></head>Part one of two. Troy and Gabriella are divorced and living separate lives. Gabriella can't stand Troy's new girlfriend and neither can their kids. Will they soon realize what they have left behind or is it all really in the trash? Part one of two.</html>


Gabriella's POV.

I drove in the car in silents with both my ten year old son and thirteen year old daughter sitting in the back seats staring out of the window. They sat silent as well with disturbed looks on their faces. I was on my way to drop them off at their father's house. A place they now dreaded going to. If you're wondering, Troy and I had gotten divorced six months ago. Why? That's another story. Since then, things have been real complicated with our children. Through the time, it was still hard to explain why Troy and I had gotten divorced. The truth was, he and I had just grown a part from each other. We had our daughter when I was only seventeen and then we ended up getting married six months after. And believe not too long after that, we had our son. I could say our love started falling apart after my twenty second birthday when I was wrongly accused of having an affair with a man at my work. I didn't know how Troy could ever get the idea I would ever go with another man. He was my only love. I wish I could say the same now but, I guess things happen.

"I don't wanna go to Dad's, Mama. I wanna stay with you!" Isaac cried from the backseat.

I sighed and thought before responding. I didn't blame my son for not wanting to go to Troy's. Every time he would come back on Sunday, he would mention how his new 'friend' wasn't accepting of Troy having kids. "I know, baby, but it's your weekend with Dad so you have to go" I said resuming concentrating on the road.

"I don't wanna go!" Isaac cried.

"Shut up! Seriously, you whine about everything, not everyone gets what they want!" Aspen yelled. I turned around from my seat and looked at my daughter whom looked at me with disgust, which almost made me want to slap her for even giving me that look.

"Aspen, do not talk to your brother like that!" I said sternly.

"It's not my fault he's such a cry baby" she mumbled.

"I'm not a cry baby, you stupid teenager!" Isaac shouted with his face turning red. I mentally banged my head against the steering wheel. I was sick and tired of hearing the two bicker with each other. Ever since the divorce, it seems that's all they've ever done. My separation with Troy was officially tearing our family apart. Piece by piece. "That's enough, you two!" I shouted. The two instantly became silent. I exhaled deeply and rolled my eyes annoyed.

"I'm not asking much of you guys, except for to please behave for your father this weekend. That means; Aspen, no leaving the house and coming back whatever time you please, and Isaac no saying uncalled for things to Jennifer; you keep your comments to yourself, young man. You guys hear me?" I said.

"Yes, Mom" the two answered. I caught them rolling their eyes from the corner of my eye and sighed again. I was sorry for them. Sorry that I left him. Sorry that he had decided to go and find another woman out if spite, knowing our kids wouldn't be ready for it. Sadly, it was unfair to Aspen and Isaac, him going out like that. But frankly people would know that we were young parents. Troy being at the age of thirty-one and me being the age of thirty, we still had the mentality of a twenty-one year old. And the sad thing about it was, our kids had to suffer for it. I pulled away from my thoughts as I pulled up next to Troy's house. I scoffed every time I did. It disgusted me that he could be living so high and he could afford a big house with many things I dreamed of having my whole life, and I'm stuck in a three bedroom apartment. Before the divorce, Troy and I lived in a simple two-story three bedroom house, just right for our family. Unfortunately, Troy hadn't earned his money until after he was finished with college and began playing for the NBA and we had gotten married before he did. So a prenuptial agreement was out of the question as far as I was concerned. But it still didn't bother me. I think...

"Are you gonna say hi to Dad?" Aspen asked while unbuckling her seat belt.

I rolled my eyes. I didn't want to tell her no. It would only show off my true bitterness I had toward Troy and it would upset Aspen. I sucked it up and decided to go up to the house anyway "Sure" I said in monotone. I got out of the car and noticed Isaac's overnight bag still in the trunk of the Suburban.

"Isaac, why didn't you grab your bag when your sister opened the trunk to get her stuff?" I asked him.

Isaac shrugged and just looked at me with a blank expression. I didn't know why I even bothered asking when I already knew the reason why. He was still reluctant to stay with his father and his 'friend' for the weekend. Even though I knew, I still wasn't in the mood for games. I was just as agitated as he was. "Come and get your bag, Issac; we talked about this already" I said. The young boy stomped his feet over toward the car with disgust. I crossed my arms making sure he grabbed his belongings he packed for the weekend. Soon I walked the two up to the house and rang the doorbell. The front door opened and there he was. The man I once loved. Troy Bolton.

"Hey, guys!" Troy said to his kids hugging the two of them. They hugged their father but didn't say hi to him. I could tell by the looks on their faces they really didn't want to be with Troy at all.

"Hello, Gabriella" Troy said. I looked up at him and just stared at him.

"Mom?" Aspen got my attention with a look on her face, signaling me to respond. I gagged inside. "Hi, Troy" I got out.

"How have you been?" he asked.

"Fine" I said briefly. The kids could sense the tension between the two of us. After a moment of silence and head nodding at every response, Aspen broke the silence.

"I'm gonna go put my stuff upstairs" she said rushing up to the room Troy had made hers for every time she visited. Isaac stayed beside me not wanting to follow with his sister.

"Isaac, honey, go with your sister to your bedroom and put your stuff away" I said pushing Isaac toward the staircase.

"Do I have to?" he whined.

I became angry but still refrained from showing it. "Yes. Go, now" I said through my teeth. Isaac moaned and ran upstairs with his bag. My head started to spin at just the thought of me standing next to Troy. He hadn't made eye contact with me since our awkward silence a moment ago. Troy broke the silence.

"Jennifer should be home in a minute" he said.

My eye twitched. "I'll leave in a minute, I'm going to say bye to the kids first" I said. So what that she was going to be home? I could careless if she walked through that door any minute. It wouldn't change anything. Troy and I already weren't speaking. The only time we ever had contact with each other was when it was about our kids. Aspen and Isaac came running downstairs to say bye to me before I left.

"Bye, Mama" Aspen said kissing my cheek. "Bye, Mom" Isaac said hugging me along with his sister. Troy stared at us from his spot. Before I knew it, I was on my way back home. I had decided to stop by Taylor and Chad's house first before returning back to my apartment.

"Hey, girl. Come on in" Taylor as she welcomed me into her house. I stepped into the house and caught a fresh scent of their air. Taylor always had the house smelling wonderful. There was so much love and movement in the house, it was all so calming. Something I had missed a lot about having Troy around. Our house was exactly like it when the kids were younger and Troy and I were together. And still in love.

"I just got done making lemon pie. You want a slice?" Taylor offered.

I smiled gently. "No thanks, Tay. I don't think my stomach can handle it right now" I said sitting down on the couch.

"Why what's going on?" she asked.

"I just got done dropping the kids off at their dad's" I said. Taylor sat down on the opposite side of the couch and swing her legs onto the cushion and folded them Indian style.

"How is that making you upset?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

"Well, I could say I was forced against my will to say hello to him" I said.

"You guys actually talked?"

"We didn't 'talk', I just said hello and he did too. The rest of the time, we just stood their silent until the kids said bye to me" I sighed.

"Oh. How are they doing, by the way?" she asked

"To be honest, Tay, they really are traumatized by the divorce. Isaac is so hesitant to see his father now, and Aspen hardly wants to spend any time at home. This whole thing has just destroyed them" I explained.

"I know, sweetie, but not all divorces go smoothly. It will just take some getting used to" she said.

"I know. But it really doesn't help at the moment with the kids still being so young. They just can't understand why I had to leave Troy" I said.

Taylor nodded. "I get where you're coming from. And I know the last few years you and Troy were married, you guys weren't happy. But do you ever think sometimes that you guys might still love each other?"

"I try not to. It only hurts more inside. I'm not going to say the divorce was a mistake. I knew what I wanted for myself and all I wanted was to be happy. I couldn't stay married to Troy just because we have two kids together and be unhappy for the rest of my life" I said.

"And I don't blame you for wanting to be happy. I mean, Chad drives me insane sometimes but I make sure we still work it out. You know, Gabs, it's not too late to work things out with Troy. You guys have only been separated for six months" she pointed out.

"I can't now. The divorce is official" I said bluntly.

"I'm just saying" she said.

"I have some things I need to take care of, so I'll give you a call later. Tell Chad and the kids I said hi" I said grabbing my purse as I walked toward the front door.

"Sure. And don't be a stranger, Gabs, come by more often. Chad, C.J., and Aliyah miss you so much" Taylor said as we exchanged hugs. I nodded making my way out to my car to go back home. During the ride home I wondered to myself about what I had talked to Taylor about. I did want to be happy. It was all I could ask for. But at the same time I felt selfish. I was concerned about my own happiness and wasn't thinking of my kids. Then again, why would I stay stuck in a doomed marriage and completely lose my mind? I hoped that in some point in time the kids would understand. But they were too young to do so, at least at a point where they could see that two people living in relationship full of constant fighting was unhealthy. I tried not to think any more about the situation and decided to continue on with my day.

Meanwhile; Troy's POV.

I stood in the kitchen seasoning the chicken breasts I had planned to serve tonight for dinner. I waited a while for Jennifer's return from running errands. Isaac was sitting in the living room playing race car video games on the X-box 360 Elite I bought him for Christmas and Aspen was up in her room doing Got knows what... at least I hoped she was up in her room. "Kids!" I called to them. Isaac came running in the kitchen first.

"Present" he said. I smiled at the young boy who was a double of me.

"Where's your sister?" I asked.

"Probably in her room with her music blasting on her iPod" he said sitting up on the stool near the counter.

"Well it's nice to hear that she's using something I bought her for once" I sighed. Who was I kidding? For the last six months I had been buying both my kids' affection with overpriced electronic entertainment devices ever since Gabriella and I had gotten divorced.

I could see in both of them that they were miserable. And to make matters worse, they wouldn't be able to comprehend it. Even though I was angry at Gabriella, I still couldn't argue with why she wanted to file for a divorce. Ever since we were in our mid twenties, I had been making her feel like she was dirt. It all started one night when she came home late, wasted. She had went to a Christmas party at her new job and I suspected she was having an affair with her co-worker, this guy named Brandon who's had eyes on her since she started work at her job as a secretary. No, it wasn't intuition. He had always mentioned, right to my face, that he liked my wife. It didn't phase me at first, as I always assumed he was messing around with me, but one night when I went to a bar with Gabriella and some of her friends from work including Brandon, it was clear that he wanted her. To think that, that one single night damaged us, all because I let my insecurities and my own jealousy get the best of me. In result, I lost the love of my life. And worst of all, I also destroyed my family. I cut the thought from my head and decided to go upstairs to Aspen's room to see if she was okay. If there was anyone in the world that hated my guts right now besides my ex-wife, was my daughter. I knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

"Come in" I heard her say. I opened up the door and saw her laying on her stomach on the bed listening to her iPod while looking at her favorite magazine.

"Hey, baby girl" I said coming to sit on her bed. She sat up and removed her headphones from her ears.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I'm about to make dinner. Are you gonna come down and eat soon?" I asked her.

"Is Jennifer gonna be there?" she asked in a low voice sounding disgusted. I lowered my eyebrows at her.

"Of course. You know I always wait until she comes home before we eat dinner" I told her.

"Why do we have to wait? She's usually late anyway" she said laying down on her back.

"I know, but you know the rules, Aspen" I protested.

"Sure, Dad. We have to do _everything_ on Jennifer's time. I get it!" she argued.

"Aspen Irene, don't do this with me tonight" I warned.

"Fine, Dad. I'll be downstairs waiting until she comes home for dinner. Although, I might starve by the time she does get back" she said walking out of my sight to go downstairs to wait with her brother. I groaned at her comment and watched her leave her room. I stayed behind for a bit to think. Things were a lot easier with that girl before she hit thirteen. Although, I didn't blame her for her attitude. I knew Aspen wasn't the kind of kid to have a bad attitude just because something so simple would piss her off. It was mostly because she was so upset for her mother and I separating. But what could I do or say? Absolutely nothing. I knew both of me kids would dwell on this forever and use it against me but I just had to deal with it. I eventually went downstairs to go finish dinner. After everything was prepared, the table was set and everything was ready to be devoured. But we were still waiting for Jennifer to come home. I never thought it would take this long for someone to run errands. I looked a few times at my kids who were sitting at the table waiting to eat.

"Can we eat _now,_ Dad?" Isaac whined.

I sighed and buried my face into the palms of my hands and gave up. "Yes, you guys can eat now" I said.

"Finally" they mumbled as they got up with their plates and left the table. I exhaled and looked down at my plate and eventually picked at the food on it with my fork. All of a sudden, I wasn't hungry anymore. Where in the hell could Jennifer be? It was already 8:30 and she had been gone since early this morning. My thoughts faded when the front door opened. I looked at the skinny blonde walking though my door.

"Hey, Troybear!" she said as she walked up and kissed me sticking her tongue in my mouth. That of what tasted of alcohol.

"Hey" I said standing still with a look harder than stone. Why did I taste and smell alcohol on her breath? Had she been out drinking? _Jesus, Troy! Of course she has, dumb ass!_ I thought. I pulled away from her violent embrace and stood still.

"Jen, have you been drinking?" I asked her.

"Nah, I just went out for a drink after I was finished with those errands" she said.

"Oh" I said. I watched her walk over toward the food I had prepared.

"Oh, I see you made... chicken. I'm guessing your ex-wife dropped the little ones off early" she said making a face, not liking what I made for dinner or even the fact that my kids were here with me.

"No, she dropped them off at the usual time today. Are you gonna eat dinner?" I asked.

"No. I'm just gonna make a salad. I have to look good for my modeling shoot Monday" she said perkily going to the fridge while grabbing lettuce, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and some cashew nuts. I instantly grew impatient with her. I had made my kids wait to eat their dinner so that she could come home and eat with us just to find out that she had been out enjoying herself.

"So, how is Abigail?" she asked making her salad.

"Who?" I asked with confusion.

"You're ex-wife?" she said rolling her eyes.

"You mean _Gabriella_" I said annoyed that she could never get her name right. Just the other week she that that Gabriella's name was 'Brianna'.

"Whatever. Same difference" she said crunching on her salad. I paused for a moment before responding to her snide remark. "So why did you decide to go out for a drink? And why didn't you call me?" I asked.

"Jesus, Troy. What are you, my parole officer? I just felt like it" she said as she resumed eating her salad.

"I was only asking" I said throwing my hands up in defense.

"Why even ask?" she asked. I grew more annoyed with her.

"Maybe because I was under the impression that you were out running errands and not partying" I pointed out.

"I was _not_ out partying. I just had a long day so I decided to go out for a drink. You know how us models are" she smiled finishing up her salad and putting her plate in the sink.

"I don't actually. What exactly did you do today?" I asked.

"Well I went to my friend Darlene's house and discussed somethings about my next photo shoot and then we went to go shopping and then ended up running into a few people so then we went out for lunch and then made last minute plans to go to the bar downtown" she explained. I nodded my head secretly not believing her a word she said except for the part about going to the bar. I decided to forget about it and call it a night.

"You should go say hi to the kids. Make them feel a little more welcome" I suggested preparing to clean up the kitchen.

"Troy, you know I'm not good with kids" she protested.

"Jen, it's not like they're little tiny kids, they are thirteen and ten. You can try just once" I argued.

"All right, chill out. But you owe me later" she said in a promiscuous tone. I knew what that meant. I smiled weakly at her and resumed cleaning the kitchen. I didn't know what it was about Jennifer. When I first met her three months ago, I thought she was funny, damn beautiful, and certainly had a good sense of humor. But now I was beginning to wonder if it was enough. Lately she had been coming off as flaky, irresponsible, and inconsiderate. But tonight, I just hoped she would help my kids warm up to her a little bit. Even though I knew for a fact... it wouldn't happen.

Upstairs;

"Ayden, Can I come in?" Jennifer asked as she waltzed through Aspen's door without even knocking.

"Sure. And it's _Aspen_, by the way" Aspen said closing a book she was reading.

"Same difference" Jennifer said unkindly.

Aspen lowered her eyebrows at her. "Don't you ever think that it's kinda weird that you've been dating my dad for three full months and you still can't remember me or my brother's name?" Aspen asked.

"I guess but, hey, who can remember anyone's name nowadays?" Jennifer asked sitting on the bed next to Aspen. Aspen shook her head in confusion knowing Jennifer wasn't making any sense of what she just said.

"Sure" Aspen said briefly.

"So, your father" Jennifer started.

"Yes?" Aspen asked.

"Your Dad sort of thinks we should bond a little bit this weekend" Jennifer said.

"Really?" Aspen said in more of a 'oh, hell no' way.

"Yeah, so tell you what; you and I will go out and do girl stuff tomorrow. And Isaiah and your Dad can hang out here and do guy stuff all day" she said.

"Isaac" Aspen corrected her.

"Yeah, sure" Jennifer replied. Aspen agreed with a nod and rolled her eyes and lay back down on her bed.

"See you tomorrow, girlfriend" Jennifer said in a perky voice, also assuming that's how teenagers still talk to each other. Aspen buried her face into her pillow and groaned loudly in frustration.

Back downstairs;

"Well I talked to Aspen and tomorrow I'm taking her out to do girl things" Jennifer said.

"Oh, that's sweet. She'll love that" I said loading the dishwasher.

"You can thank me later. Or better, yet. You can thank me now" she said unbuttoning the top of her blouse revealing her bare breasts. I smiled at her as she pulled me close to her as we began to make out. I held my breath for about ten seconds before breaking away from her lips.

"Baby, as much as I would love to, We can't tonight. Not while my kids are here" I said taking her arms off of my hips.

Jennifer scoffed in disbelief, "They won't know, trust me" she protested trying to resume tonguing me.

"Jen, honey. Not tonight. Please?" I begged.

"Troy, this is our last weekend together before I have to leave for Brazil for my photo shoot. And you seriously had to take the kids this weekend, didn't you?" she asked becoming upset.

"You know I only get to see them every other weekend and I want to spend as much time with them as I can" I argued.

"So? Go to court and sue your ex-wife for more custody if it bothers you so damn much" she said.

"Everything is set in stone, Jennifer, I can't do anything about it now" I said.

"Well, then don't complain. And don't use your kids being here as an excuse to get out of having sex with me" she said rubbing on my chest. I raised on eyebrow at her.

"Jennifer. Not tonight, okay?" I said taking her hands from my chest and holding them in the grip of mine. She pouted violently and turned around to go upstairs to my bedroom. She slammed the door as she did. I sat down on the stool by the counter and sighed. Soon I heard a scream coming from Isaac's room and I rushed up to his location to see if he was all right.

"What's going on!" I asked frantic as I saw Isaac standing on his bed pointing to a long legged spider on his wall.

"It's a spider!" he cried.

"It's okay, Isaac, it's just a daddy-long leg spider, it wont hurt you!" Aspen said grabbing Isaac from his bed.

"You you all right, buddy?" I asked Isaac whom had calmed down but still looked shaken at the same time.

"Yeah, I'm fine now, Dad" he replied still looking at the spider.

"What should we do with him?" he asked.

"I'll find a stick or something and put him out the window" Aspen said.

I giggled at the both of my kids. I always thought that it was sweet whenever Isaac would get scared of some kind of insect, Aspen would always be there to give him some helpful advice about it. She was a sweet sister to him. My thoughts were interrupted when and angry Jennifer marched in my son's room with only a bra, panties, and a bathrobe on.

"What is all of the screaming about?" she asked.

"I got scared of the spider" Isaac said pointing to the insect that stayed still on his wall.

"That's disgusting! Well, here's what you do, you kill it!" she said grabbing one of Isaac's shoes heading toward the wall.

"No!" Isaac shouted.

"Don't kill him!" Aspen yelled to Jennifer. It was too late. Jennifer had crushed the spider with the shoe and all that was left was what was splattered on the wall from him. The kids became silent.

"Problem solved" Jennifer smirked.

"Bug killer" Aspen muttered.

"Whatever. It's about time for you kids to get to bed, now" she said as she marched back out of the room. I watched her walk out from behind. For some reason, Jennifer was really beginning to get on my nerves.

"Dad?" Isaac said.

"What is it, son?" I responded.

"Why did she come in here half naked?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes and changed the subject. "Go to bed, you guys" I said as I walked out of the room. I went in my bedroom and saw Jennifer laying on top of the bed sheets with only here bra and panties on. I still wasn't giving into sexual intentions. I headed strait to the bathroom and jumped into a pair of sweatpants and went to bed. I could feel Jennifer's body against mine trying to turn me on. But nothing was affecting me. I didn't want to be turned on by her right about now. After tonight and practically this whole day, I didn't feel the same. All I wanted to do now was sleep.

Sunday; Gabriella's POV.

I got up out of bed and went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Today I would be picking up my kids from Troy. I hadn't gotten any calls from them over the weekend so I had only assumed things went okay. But I would only know for sure when I picked them up. Isaac was usually the first to tell me if something went wrong. All at the same time, I was dreading walking up to Troy's door seeing him and his freaky girlfriend. I was still disgusted that he managed to find another woman. We had only been divorced for six months and he gets a new girlfriend. That was typical of him. Well, how can I argue. After all, he is a famous basketball player and he won a beautiful model. I still hadn't met Jennifer in person but judging by pictures that I've seen, she was beautiful, I won't lie. But it still made me feel like I was never good enough for Troy. I could never compete with a 30 year old, 5'6, blonde hair, green eyes, skinny, and dangerously huge-breasted model that had a face like Claudia Schiffer. If that's what really turned Troy on, I didn't know what was real anymore. I left it alone and continued on with my day. After I had showered and got dressed, I prepared to hit the road to pick up Aspen and Isaac. Once I pulled up to the house, I saw a red Porsche car parked outside next to Troy's Dodge Charger. It must have been Jennifer's car. I shuttered at the thought of seeing her. I got out of my car and walked up to the front door and waited for an answer after I rang the doorbell twice. When the door opened, Jennifer of all people answered.

"Hi, how can I help you?" she said sweetly. Ha! Sweet my ass. I could tell she was faker than her breasts.

"I'm here to pick up my kids" I said faking a smile.

"Oh, so _you're_ Isabella?" she said reaching her hand out to shake mine.

I tried hard not to let my face drop into a frown. "It's _Gabriella._ And it's nice to meet you" I said shaking her hand.

"Right" she said briefly. I could kill her right now for that. I remembered Aspen mentioning that she wasn't good with names. Either it was an act or she just really had trouble remembering names, which I sincerely doubted she wasn't to begin with.

"I've heard so much about you" she said with a smile.

"You don't say" I said. Just then I saw Troy coming down the stairs after yelling to the kids that I was here. Great, as if the day couldn't get any worse. If I was expecting anything more to happen, I was thinking he would be all over his wife in front of me in his way of showing me what I'm missing. All I could do was keep a straight face.

"Hey, Gabriella. They'll be down in a second" Troy said. The two offered me to come inside the house to sit down while I waited for the kids to get ready to leave. I sat down on the black leather couch and took the glass of water Troy offered.

"So, how are you two presently?" I asked. Don't ask why I did, because I don't even know.

"We're fantastic, things are going so well" Jennifer said with her hand relaxed on Troy's leg as she was leaned against him.

"That's great. Good for you" I said nodding my head awkwardly.

"We're actually thinking about getting engaged if this goes any further" she said glaring at me. I smiled weakly trying not to reach over and beat the living day light out of that bitch.

"We are?" Troy asked in confusion. I looked over at Troy. He looked back at me.

"Well, yeah. I mean we're gonna talk about it more, you know" she laughed nervously. She let out a high squeaky laugh. Troy looked more confused than ever. I knew that look. Troy hadn't a clue of what Jennifer was talking about. And this only let me know that this was just a way that she could make me feel bad about her being with my ex-husband.

"Anyways, how are you, Gabriella?" Wow. She actually remembered my name.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking" I said with my cheeks hurting from holding this fake smile on my face since I've been in the house.

"Are you affording your apartment okay?" she asked. I could feel my muscles contracting forcing me to want to get up and snatch that tramp by her hair and throw her head against the wall a few times. Who the hell did she think she was? It was none of her business asking me about how I'm managing living.

"Pardon me for asking but, why do you ask?" I asked keeping my butt glued to the couch so that I didn't commit this girl to any harm.

"Oh, I was just wondering. I mean, I can make sure Troy sends you child support checks. If that's fine with you, that is" she said. My eye twitched, feeling myself get fed up.

"Jennifer, that's enough, now!" Troy snapped. Jennifer started at Troy and swooped her hair to the back trying not to seem embarrassed that she had just made a complete ass of herself for getting in my business.

"Troy, honey, I just wanted to make sure the kids were in good hands with her, that's all" she said.

I spoke through my teeth. "I'm sorry but, I am their mother, if you want to call it good hands. And secondly, we're managing just fine at my place" I said. Jennifer glared at me. I was officially fed up. I had to find a way to leave this place and fast.

"Kids! Hurry up!" I shouted. Soon Aspen and Isaac came running down with their belongings and rushed by my side.

"Say bye to your father first" I said pushing them toward Troy.

"Bye, Daddy. I love you" Aspen said hugging Troy and kissing him on his cheek.

"I love you too, princess" Troy said.

"See ya, Dad" Isaac said.

"I'll miss you, buddy" Troy said to him as they did their secret hand shake. I smiled at the two of them. My smile soon turned to a frown when Jennifer spoke up.

"That's so cute, isn't it? That's their secret handshake" she said whispering in my direction as if I didn't know what it was. I had only seen them do it for the past five years.

"I know what it is. Troy taught Isaac that handshake when he was five" I smirked at the blonde.

"Right" she laughed again. I swear I could slap the teeth out of her head.

"Come on, you two. Let's get a move on" I said motioning my son and daughter toward my car. Troy stopped by for a second to talk to Jennifer and he rushed out to the car before I got in it. Aspen and Isaac were already in the car waiting for me.

"Gabriella! Wait!" Troy called out. I could see Jennifer from a distance watching Troy with her arms crossed.

"What is it, Troy?" I asked already annoyed after what had just went on.

"Look, I'm sorry about Jennifer. She's a bit eccentric sometimes" Troy said apologetically.

"I think _edgy_ is the word you're looking for" I corrected him. Troy sighed.

"Gabriella, I promise you, she's not like this on a daily basis, she can be sweet" Troy said before I cut him off.

"When she wants to Troy, I can see it in her. I don't want to talk about this right now, I have to go" I said as I got back into my car and got ready to drive off. I didn't mean to snap at Troy. It wasn't his fault his new trick was a bitch with cruel intentions. But it sure as hell was his fault for choosing to date her. I didn't know what to think anymore. I didn't know if I was truly angry with him or I was just jealous, which didn't make any sense to me seeing as though I was the one that had decided to divorce him. Aspen and Isaac hadn't said a word since we left. My head ached and I grew emotionally exhausted. All of the frustration was too much to handle for one morning. Just the thought of Troy sleeping with that skank was enough to make me barf. But I had nothing to worry about because he wasn't my problem anymore. I would only have to deal with him until the kids were eighteen years old. Sad to say, this was only the beginning.

**A/N: Okay, so I'm still dreading finishing the last chapter of "You're with me", I'm only half way done with it. But I figured I'd update and try to work on something new while I'm thinking. This is a bit different but I hope you guys enjoyed it. There will be a part two so stay tuned!**


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